Ray Stevens
Harry The Hairy Ape
INTRO:C F C F
C
Well a strange thing happened the other night
You won't believe it but I swear it's true
Harry the Hairy Ape made his escape from the city zoo
And under cover of darkness he made his way
F
To the middle of the municipal park
N/C
And hid in the bushes and waited for somebody
To come walkin alone by hisself in the dark
F
Then along come somebody not suspectin' nothin
Bb
Harry jump outta the bushes all of a sudden
G F
Beat on his chest, jumped up and down, and he say
INTRO
Wooohooohooohhaaaheehooowooo (twice)
G Bb F N/C
Which is Harry Ape talk for "boo I betcha I scared you haha"
(Spoken rapidly)
F
Waaa scared that poor cat so bad his eyes bugged out
His hair turned white and he run off through the municipal park
Screamin' and hollerin' 'n tearin' up the lawn
Tearin' up the shrubbery, knocked down the "keep off the grass" sign
Run through the hurricane fence, fell in the municipal swimming pool
And drowned hisself, woo-hoo
C
Well Harry thought this was the funniest thing
That he had ever seen
And he laughed, haha, jumped back in the bushes
And got ready to do it again
The next guy that come along
F
Was the near sighted local DJ
N/C
Just boppin' down the sidewalk on his way to work
With a box of records under his arm that he was gonna play
F
So here he come, not suspectin' nothin'
Bb
Harry jump outta the bushes all of a sudden
G F
Beat on his chest, jumped up and down, and he say
INTRO
(that ape talk again)
G Bb F N/C
Which is Harry Ape talk for "smile you on candid camera"
(Spoken rapidly)
F
Man that DJ was so nearsighted he thought Harry was a rock n roll singer
So he give him the ol' glad hand, smiled, slapped him on the back
Say "don't worry baby I'm gonna play the record
'Cause you're too cool, too cool, too cool"
Then he said bye, bopped on down off the sidewalk
Every four or five steps he stop turn around do a boo-ga-loo shing-a-ling
Well this really shook Harry up, I mean it blew his whole bit ruined his whole day
So he run back to his cage fast as he could go, jumped up on his little swing
Put both hands over his eyes and didn't look for three hours forty-five minutes
But that's not the end of the story, here's what happened
C
Well the DJ he played Harry's record (what record?) Shut up!
It was a hit and he became a star
Got him some tight britches got him a manager
Went on a promotion tour, combed his hair back
And took up playin' the guitar
And every Sunday afternoon you can go
F
And see Harry at the zoo
N/C
And the girls'll swing and he'll sit on his swing
And pick and sing his hit record for you
C
(Ape noises)
(Shoobie-doo-wop, shoobie-doo-wop...)